J. Arthur Rank

Joseph Arthur Rank (born December 22, 1888 in Kingston upon Hull , East Riding of Yorkshire , † March 29, 1972 in Winchester , Hampshire ) was a British film producer .

Life

The son of a flour mill entrepreneur joined his father's business at the age of seventeen. After a religious conversion, he founded the British National Film Company to produce films for Sunday school classes, which in 1935 produced the film The Turn of the Tide .

He soon expanded his activities to include film distribution and the production of film technology. With the architect Charles boat he built on the property Heath Hall earth the Pinewood Studios , which he headed, he also was the late 1930s, also head of Alexander Korda's Denham Film Studios . In the 1940s he was the UK's foremost film producer, working for such directors as Michael Powell , Emeric Pressburger , David Lean and Carol Reed .

After narrowly escaping bankruptcy in the 1940s, Rank had to give up Pinewood and Denham Studios. His rank organization , however, switched to radio production, as well as the operation of hotels and ballrooms, real estate trading and, together with the Xerox Corporation, the production and sale of copiers in Europe, Africa and Asia.

From 1952 to 1969, Rank ran the family business Ranks Hovis McDougall, Ltd. , in addition, he devoted himself to charitable activities. In 1953, he and his wife founded the J. Arthur Rank Group Charity (today: The Rank Foundation ).

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personal data
SURNAME	Rank, J. Arthur
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Rank, Joseph Arthur (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	British film producer
DATE OF BIRTH	December 22, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kingston upon Hull , East Riding of Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH	March 29, 1972
Place of death	Winchester , Hampshire, England, United Kingdom